Appendices

November 1986 A newly recognized form of neurological disease appears in cattle in the United Kingdom; the disease is identified as bovine spongiform encephalopathy by Gerald A.H.Wells and John W.Wilesmith of the Central Veterinary Laboratory after a post-mortem study of an affected cow

November 1986May 1995 Approximately 150,000 cases of BSE confirmed from approximately 33,500 herds of cattle in the UK

June 1987 Transmission studies begin; normal time for disease to develop in mice proved to be about 10 months

5 December 1987 Initial epidemiology studies completed which conclude that ruminant-derived meat and bonemeal in feed was the only viable hypothesis for cause of BSE

21 April 1988 UK Government indicates that legislation would be instated to make BSE notifiable and to ban feeding of rations that contain protein derived from ruminants

21 June 1988 Provisions of BSE Order 1988 come into effect to make BSE notifiable and to provide for isolation of BSE suspects when calving

18 July 1988 Ruminant feed ban comes into force 8 August 1988 Slaughter and compensation policy comes into

effect, which provides 50% compensation for

confirmed BSE cases, 100% for negative, both subject to a ceiling

October 1988 Transmission to mice reported, following intracerebral inoculation of BSE brain tissue

28 November 1988 BSE made notifiable and slaughter policy introduced in Northern Ireland

30 December 1988 Feed ban prolonged, use of milk from infected animals prohibited except to feed cow’s own calf

1989 Importing of processed beef and live cattle from Britain into US is stopped

11 January 1989 Use of animal protein in ruminant feed banned in Northern Ireland

28 July 1989 European Commission bans export of cattle born before 18 July 1988 and offspring of affected or suspect animals

13 November 1989 Bovine Offal Regulations come into force in England and Wales, banning the use of specified bovine offal (SBO)

30 January 1990 SBO bans come into effect in Scotland and Northern Ireland

31 January 1990 Announcement that five antelopes have succumbed to a spongiform encephalopathy

3 February 1990 Cattle to cattle transmission following intracerebral and intravenous inoculation of BSE brain tissue and into mice via the oral route reported in Veterinary Record

14 February 1990 Full compensation for infected animals introduced; no surge of cases associated with this introduction

30 March 1990 Administrative ban on export of specified offal and certain glands and organs (for uses other than human consumption) to other EU member states

April 1990 Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) is established in the UK

I April 1990 Disease made notifiable to the European Commission 3 April 1990 Announcement made of establishment of permanent

advisory group on spongiform encephalopathies under Chairmanship of Dr David Tyrrell

11 April 1990 Humberside County council withdraws British beef from school meals

10 May 1990 Announcement of a cat with a spongiform encephalopathy

17 May 1990 Announcement that decisions about breeding from offspring of affected cows should be left to individual farmers and their veterinary advisors

12 July 1990 Tyrrell Committee reports on why no need to give official advice on breeding from offspring of BSE cases

24 September 1990 Laboratory transmission of BSE to a pig announced; Tyrrell Committee advises no implications for human health, but as precaution on animal health, will ban specified offals in all animal feed (including pet food)

25 September 1990 Ban extended on use of SBO to any animal feed; exports of such feed also effectively banned to other member states

2-5 October 1990 OIE Conference in Sofia (Bulgaria); recommendations made regarding trade, prevention, control and surveillance of BSE, the support of research and the need for further consideration on trade in live animals

15 October 1990 Order passed to introduce new record-keeping arrangement requiring cattle farmers to maintain breeding records; these and movement records to be retained for ten years

27 March 1991 First case announced in BSE offspring born after ruminant feed ban

6 November 1991 BSE Order 1991 consolidates existing BSE legislation and introduces new provisions to prevent the use of meat and bonemeal produced from SBOS as a fertilizer

1992-1993 In Britain, 900 to 1,000 cows per week contract BSE 4 March 1992 Results of further experiments on the host range of BSE

announced; also that the Tyrrell Committee had considered the latest BSE research and concluded that the measures at present in place provide adequate safeguards for human and animal health

14 May 1992 EC Decision prohibits intracommunity trade in bovine embryos derived from BSE suspect or confirmed dams or dams born after 18 July 1988

14 July 1993 100,000th confirmed case of BSE in Great Britain announced in response to a parliamentary Question, as an update to the UK Progress Report to the OIE

27 June 1994 Commission decision prohibits the feeding of mammalian protein to ruminants throughout EU other than Denmark

30 June 1994 Industry voluntarily extends SBO ban 27 July 1994 Commission decides to introduce new measures on beef

export; requires bone-in-beef for export to come from cattle certified not to have been on holdings where BSE has been confirmed in previous six years

2 November 1994 SBO ban on human food of calves under six months of age slaughtefed for human consumption; spongiform encephalopathies made notifiable in cattle, sheep and goats

6 March 1995 Restriction on use of milk, gelatin, amino acids, dicalcium phosphate and dried plasma and other blood products from mammalian tissues in feedstuffs for ruminants

1 April 1995 Regulation put into effect which makes it a requirement to stain SBO with a solution of blue ink

15 August 1995 SBO Order enacted, which consolidates and streamlines the old rules on SBO; main changes include: tighter control on record keeping, dedicated lines for rendering plants processing SBO, a prohibition on the removal of brains and eyes so that the whole skull must be disposed of as SBO, and a prohibition on the removal of the spinal cord from the vertebral column except in slaughterhouses

May 1995 BSE reported from ten countries and areas outside the UK to date; in France, Portugal, Republic of Ireland and Switzerland, BSE occurred in native cattle; in Falkland Islands, Oman Sultanate, Germany, Canada, Italy and Denmark, cases only identified in cattle imported from the UK

14 December 1995 Government bans the use of the bovine vertebral column in the manufacture of mechanically recovered meat (MRM) and other products, and prohibits the export for human consumption of MRM made from the vertebral column

December 1995 British Agriculture Minister Douglas Hogg says, “I am absolutely certain that British beef is wholly safe”

20 March 1996 SEAC states: “On current data and in the absence of any credible alternative the most likely explanation at present is that these cases are linked to exposure to BSE before the introduction of the SBO ban.” Upon advice

from SEAC, the Government announces that carcasses from cattle aged over 30 months must be deboned in specially licensed plants and that the trimmings be kept out of any food chain; also that the use of mammalian meat and bonemeal in feed for all farm animals be banned

21 March 1996 First announcement of a newly recognized variant of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (V-CJD) in humans; the variant affects young patients (mean age 26.3 years) and has a relatively long duration of illness (mean 14.1 months); the

hypothesis is announced that V-CJD may be linked to exposure to a BSE agent

24 March 1996 McDonald’s suspends use of British beef in burgers 26 March 1996 Advisors confirm that v-CJD could be linked to BSE before

the offal ban 29 March 1996 New regulation announced which treats entire head as SBO 2-3 April 1996 WHO, FAO and OIE participate on consultation regarding

transmissible spongiform encephalopathies; report calls for more research, and a moratorium on use of potentially infected tissues from entering any food chain

10 April 1996 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the US initiates the tracking of CJD occurrences in four states: Minnesota, California, Connecticut and Oregon

12 April 1996 The US Department of Agriculture issues a report saying that transmission of BSE to humans is virtually impossible

16 April 1996 New £550 million scheme to prevent cattle most at risk from entering food chain: all beasts over 30 months old will be bought and destroyed, the purchase to be 70% funded by the EU

18 April 1996 The Government bans meat and bonemeal from sale and use as a fertilizer on agricultural land

30 April 1996 Government announces the introduction of a voluntary plan whereby farmers can use a passport to show the age of cattle; other than cases where it can be proven that the animal is no more than two years and six months old at the time of slaughter, all cattle with more than two permanent incisors are prohibited from sale for human consumption

May 1996 MAFF reports that “if there is no significant source of infection other than feed, the measures already in place will lead to the eradication of BSE”

3 May 1996 Government announces plans for a new scheme under which cattle over the age of 30 months from herds that can be identified as low risk on the basis of strict eligibility criteria may be slaughtered for human consumption

June 1996 UK Advisory Committee on Dangerous Pathogens (ACDP) acknowledges that uncertainty remains as to whether there is a causal link between BSE and human spongiform encephalopathies

6 June 1996 Five new cases of V-CJD are announced

14 June 1996 Article in Nature reports findings of study in which macaque monkeys were injected with BSE; produced pathology similar to V-CJD

July 1996 The US International Food Information Council (IFIC) issues an occupational warning stating that contact with, or consumption of, the brain or spinal cord of BSEinfected animals are activities that lead to risks of contracting CJD

24 July 1996 Government announces £100 million aid plan for beef producers who were affected by the fall in prices

9 August 1996 Government announces new “Beef Assurance Scheme” which allows farmers to register herds with no known risk of BSE (i.e. grass-fed cattle) to be used for human consumption up to the age of 42 months

4 October 1996 Liechtenstein reports its first case of feline spongiform encephalopathy

16 December 1996 British Government announces a change in culling plans to include cattle that were reared with animals that have died of BSE and may have eaten infected feed; also includes cattle born to cows that died of the disease

1996 Total number of confirmed cases of V-CJD: 14. 52.5% drop in confirmed BSE cases in 1996, compared to 1995

January 1997 United States Food and Drug Administration proposes ban on use of rendered cow, sheep, goat, deer and elk tissue in animal feed

2 January 1997 An article in Nature reports that BSE cost the EU $2.8 billion in subsidies to the beef industry

15 January 1997 30,000 tons of hamburgers, sausages, pies and lasagnes are buried in British landfill sites.